Director George Miller and three of his Oscar-winning team - Margaret Sixel, left, Lesley Vanderwalt and Damian Martin - arrive back in Sydney. Photo: Peter Rae

"To see all those smiling faces with their Oscars, it was fantastic," he told Fairfax Media. "I was really, really happy."

The acclaimed director arrived at Sydney Airport flanked by three of his team triumphantly carrying their Oscars – his wife Margaret Sixel​, who won for best editing, and Lesley Vanderwalt​ and Damian Martin, who won with Elka Wardega​ for best hair and make-up.

"I thought the best we could do was maybe two or three so it was really great, especially when Margie won," he said. "I was so happy. I just know how massive her contribution was."

Not only did Fury Road win the most Academy Awards for an Australian film – overtaking The Piano's three – only the final Lord of the Rings movie, Slumdog Millionaire and Gravity have won more Oscars since the turn of the century.

After the awards, production designer Colin Gibson said he was disappointed Miller missed winning best director for the way he reinvented the genre and the obstacles he had to overcome to make the fourth Mad Max movie.

The award went to Mexico's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu​ for The Revenant – his second consecutive win after Birdman last year.

"I just think there was a bit of an injustice," Gibson said. "I felt we were robbed.

"What we do for a living is we twine together all the collaborators – the make-up, the hair, the wardrobe, the concepts, the visual effects, the design, the acting, the stunts and the cinematography. We put them all together then you pump up the volume with sound and editing.

"Whoever's in charge of all of that must have an incredible responsibility and therefore be owed. So if you can get six out of 10 nominations – and those six are integral to what it was – it does seem rather odd the director misses out."

David White agreed that Miller deserved his own Oscar for Fury Road.

"All of us felt disappointed that George didn't win for best director," he said. "There's probably less than a handful of people in the world like George.

"This guy has had a singular vision to do this film."

But Miller, the 70-year-old director whose career has included four Mad Max and two Happy Feet movies, said he was far from disappointed to miss winning best director, especially since he had already won an Oscar for Happy Feet.﻿

"I've been lucky enough to win an Oscar in the past when I wasn't expected to win," he said. "You'd be a fool to be disappointed when we did so well."

Now that the long awards season is over, Miller plans to get back to work on scripts, with no word yet on whether he will shoot another Mad Max or another film next.

But after a triumphant result at the Oscars, there was another priority first.

"I don't think anyone has had much sleep since Oscar night," Miller said.